Punched can



March 14, 1961 E. MANSHO 2,974,824

PUNCHED CAN Filed May 4, 1959 INVENTOR. E TS U 0 M A N 5 HO A TI'OENEY United States Patent PUNCHED CAN Etsuo Mansho, Box 746, Ewa, Hawaii Filed May 4, 1959, Ser. No. 810,612

1 Claim. (Cl. 220-53) This invention relates to containers, and more particularly, to a beverage can.

Ordinarily, it is necessary to have a special tool to open beverage cans to obtain the contents therefrom. Often, this is inconvenient, if not impossible, thus preventing the contents of the can from being emptied. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a beverage can that can be readily opened without any special tools or equipment, so as to overcome the aforementioned diificulty.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a beverage can having an end wall with at least one outlet, and a frangible plug detachably disposed within and closing each such outlet.

Still an additional object of the present invention is to provide a beverage can of the type described that is completely sanitary, easy to open, safe, and which can be manufactured in large quantities at a relatively low cost.

All of the foregoing and still further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a study of the following specification, taken with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a beverage can made in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged top plan view of the beverage can shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view, showing the manner in which the can is opened;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken along line 44 of Figure 2 showing the relationship between certain parts;

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the closure device forming a part of the present invention;

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view showing the manner in which the solder is applied to the opening defining portions of the can wall for fac' tating the removal of the closure device;

Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken along line 7-7 of Figure 2.

Referring now to the drawing, a beverage can 10 made in accordance with the present invention is shown to include a substantially cylindrical sidewall 12 having an end wall 14 at each opposite longitudinal extremity. A head 16 integrally connects each such end wall 14 to the sidewall 12 in a well known manner.

As is more clearly shown in Figure 4 of the drawing, one of the end walls 14 is provided with a pair of substantially circular openings 18 through which the contents of the can.can be readily poured. However, such openings 18 are normally closed by a cup type closure having a cylindrical sidewall 20 and a bottom wall 22. The opposite extremity of the sidewall 20 is provided 2,974,824 Cg Patented Mar. 14, 1961 with a radially outwardly extending flange 24 that overlies the opening defining portions of the end wall 14, and which tapers outwardly into a tab 26 that may be used as a pull tab for removing such cup like closures when desired.

In assembling the can, a thin layer of solder 30 is placed upon the opening defining portions of the end wall 14, such solder tapering into a teardrop shape at one end, over which the elongated tail 26 of the closure member is applied.

As is clearly shown in Figure 3 of the drawing, the reduced amount of solder at the point of the layer enables the pull tab 26 to be readily freed from the solder 36 upon opening the can. In order to prevent the cup like closure from becoming jammed within the opening 18 of the can, a crease line 28 is impressed diametrically across the cup like portion sidewall 20, closure wall 22, and flange 24. Thus, as the pull tab 26 is pulled upwardly, the cup like closure will distort along the crease line 28, thus freeing the parts from locking engagement with the opening defining portions in the end wall.

It will now be recognized that a can equipped with this type of closure means may be readily opened without any special opener, tool, or the like. Thus. the cans are not only more convenient, but also safer and easier to handle.

While this invention has been described with particular reference to the construction shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that such is not to be construed as imparting limitations upon the invention, which is best defined by the claim appended hereto.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A beverage can comprising, in combination, an elongated walled receptacle having end walls at each extremity, at least one of said end walls having outlet means for emptying the contents from the interior thereof, frangible closure means detachably closing said outlet means, said elongated walled receptacle comprising a substantially cylindrical side wall, a substantially flat end wall closing each opposite extremity thereof, and said outlet means comprising at least one substantially circular opening in one of said end walls spaced radially inwardly from said side wall, wherein said closure means comprises a substantially cup shaped closure having a cylindrical sidewall and a closure wall at one end, and a radially outwardly extending flange integral with the opposite end of said cup shaped closure member overlyiug said end wall, and solder interposed between said flange and said end wall detachably securing said closure member within said outlet means, wherein said flange comprises a radially outwardly tapered extension, said solder tapering toward a point in a direction toward the outermost extremity of said extension, and a crease line extending through said flange and said closure side and end wall in a direction transversely of the longitudinal axis of said flange extension.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 751,784 Diesel Feb. 9, 1904 893,769 Weber July 21, 1908 2,034,007 Smith Mar. 17, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 146,872 Australia Aug. 25, 1936 

